The History of Chocolate — From Sacred Drink to Global Empire

It began as a bitter, frothy drink served to kings and gods, was valuable enough to be spent as money, and was guarded by an empire as a state secret. This documentary traces the extraordinary journey of chocolate: from the cacao groves of the Olmec and Maya, where it was worshipped as the food of the gods, to the Aztec markets where beans bought turkeys and tamales. Follow chocolate across the Atlantic with Cortés into the secretive courts of Spain, into the glittering chocolate houses of London and Paris, and through the industrial breakthroughs that changed it forever — Van Houten's cocoa press, the first solid bars of Fry's and Cadbury, Swiss milk chocolate from Daniel Peter and Nestlé, and Milton Hershey's empire of chocolate for the masses. This is the complete history of chocolate — and the untold story of the West African farmers behind every bar. CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome to History Lens 00:05 The Food of the Gods — Olmec and Maya 00:56 The Sacred Drink of the Maya 01:37 Aztec Gold — Cacao Beans as Money 02:21 Cortés and the Spanish Secret 03:06 Chocolate Houses of London and Paris 03:51 Van Houten and the Cocoa Press 04:33 The First Chocolate Bars — Fry's and Cadbury 05:13 Milk Chocolate — Peter, Nestlé and Lindt 05:58 Hershey Builds a Chocolate Empire 06:39 The Global Chocolate Industry 07:22 The Farmers Behind the Bar #history #chocolate #documentary #cacao #historyofchocolate Subscribe to History Lens for more amazing history documentaries!